Authorities forced dozens of people to quarantine overnight at a Chinese hotpot restaurant after a COVID-19 case was discovered at the site — and the story of one woman’s near-escape from the ordeal has gone viral on Weibo .
According to Orient Today news channel in Henan province, a woman named Wang enjoyed a late dinner at a hot pot restaurant with some friends in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou on March 18.
Her friends left first, but by the time she got up from the table a few minutes later, she was told the eatery was closing immediately because a COVID case had been discovered.
“If I had just left a minute earlier, I could have left,” she told Orient Today, adding that about 30 other guests had been caught in the same situation. “I was just a minute late.”
It wasn’t a very terrible experience, though, she said.
“The restaurant kept giving us free food. At 3 AM they made us noodles and in the morning they stir-fried some dishes. We could also order anything we wanted for hotpot – I ordered octopus, beef and noodles,” Wang told the outlet. “I ate until I couldn’t move anymore.”
Her story went viral on the Chinese Twitter-like platform Weibo, with the hashtag “woman quarantined at hotpot restaurant after she left a minute later,” with more than 420 million views.
Social media users joked that a hotpot restaurant is one of the better places to be quarantined. “If I had to quarantine, I guess a hotpot restaurant wouldn’t be so bad. Or maybe a public bathhouse,” said one Weibo user.
Wang was allowed to leave the restaurant the next day, but authorities advised her to isolate herself at home for another 13 days, according to the Beijing Youth Daily.
In recent months, China has seen a nationwide surge in COVID cases, with tens of millions of people in strict lockdowns as officials continue to pursue a “dynamic zero-COVID policy”. That means rapid shutdowns, massive testing and travel restrictions when clusters emerge.
Surprising lockdowns are not entirely uncommon. In January, Beijing shut down an entire office building after a case of Omicron was discovered there. Healthcare workers brought blankets and pillows and employees had to spend the night in their cubicles. In March, the Shanghai Tower, the world’s second-tallest 128-story building, was placed in emergency lockdown after COVID-19 was discovered there and workers were also forced to spend the night.
This post Woman had to quarantine at night in Hotpot Restaurant, eat all night was original published at “https://www.insider.com/woman-forced-to-quarantine-overnight-in-hotpot-restaurant-china-2022-3”